Cultivating the future
“THERE IS RESISTANCE TO THE ENCROACHMENT OF AGROINDUSTRY, TO DESTRUCTIVE, AGGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE. WE ARE THAT RESISTANCE: FAMILY FARMING, CAMPESINA, ANCESTRAL, AND RESPECTFUL OF ECOSYSTEMS AND LIFE.”
In Santiago del Estero Province in Argentina, a biodiverse area characterised by plains and dry forests, family farming is taking on a growing threat of large-scale agriculture.
The main protagonist of this threat are soybeans, the production of which ballooned by nearly 38% between 2000 and 2010. It now makes up nearly 50% of cultivated land in the country.
Today, Argentina is the third largest producer of this commodity worldwide.
In Los Pereyra, the part of Santiago del Estero where Dora Corvalán lives, the mountains have been beaten down by bulldozers that ravage the land for this crop.
Confronted with a ravenous agricultural model that monopolises land, hogs water resources, and devastates biodiversity, family farmers like Dora and her family resist, defending both their land rights and livelihoods.
bulldozers preparing the field for monocultive
New landscape with silo-bags storing soybeans
Her family’s vegetable garden is close to their house. There, together with relatives, Dora works the land as her parents did, selecting seeds and caring for the sprouts.
They are committed to sustainable and diversified farming practices.
Most of what they grow, from lettuce to melons, is for personal consumption, although they sell a small surplus to the neighbours in the area.
Dora and her family are not alone. Today, a new generation of farmers has risen up to ensure the continued existence of family farming as a way of life. These young farmers - like Leo Acuña who lives with his family a few kilometres from Dora- have brought renewed energy to the fight for sustainable food systems.
FAMILY FARMING PRODUCES MORE THAN 60% OF THE COUNTRY'S FOOD.
Dora is a tireless defender of family farming and the role that women play in it.
“We campesino women also have significant potential that we have not fully discovered or brought completely to fruition. It goes beyond harvesting and purely productive chores. It is a question of leadership,” says Dora.
She discovered she liked to take charge of things during her early school years, and has since let this grow into true leadership skills.
In addition to helping with the farm, Dora has given her heart to her work with grassroots farmers' organisations.
“One day I was invited to get to know more about a social agricultural programme. I got on my bike and went to a meeting. When we started working with families and technical teams, I understood that my leadership skills – which I have had since I was a child and that I had previously repressed – could be very positive,” says Dora, full of pride.
Historically ignored by political forces within the country, family farmers have been forced to adapt to adverse conditions, with scarce resources and government support.
Dora firmly reminds us that it’s not a sector that needs hand-holding, but rather policies that uplift it.
That’s a vision that organisers like Lucrecia Gil Villanueva share. Lucrecia, who has been working with and advocating for campesino communities in the area for the better part of 20 years knows firsthand that the biggest obstacle they've had to overcome is being minimised by decision-makers.
“We are rich in knowledge and practises, but we cannot succeed alone. We need government policies that support us," Dora explains.
Dora with members of her community
Along with those who fight by her side, Dora has learned that while they may be unequally matched, the fight for family farming is never in vain.
She has actively advocated for policies that strengthen family farming, alongside groups she is part of, like the Encuentro de Organizaciones Indígenas y Campesinas del Norte Argentino (ENCONA).
In 2014 - Thanks to the combined efforts of hers and many other organisations, Argentina approved Law 27.118 on Historical Reparation of Family Farming to promote and recognise the value of family, campesino, and indigenous farming, and to strengthen food production and sovereignty.
Several of the organisations that contributed to this achievement are part of the National Land Coalition in Argentina (ENI Argentina), including ENCONA.
For nearly a decade, the law went unregulated, without any budget allocation.
This changed in 2023.
After years of struggle – Argentina’s National Land Coalition and ally organisations successfully pushed for its regulation.
The last step, to become an effective state policy, is for Argentina to allocate a budget to it.
“The entire indigenous peasant movement in Argentina has given birth to it.”
Because of this, it reflects the rural realities, and perspectives of every corner of the country, crucially incorporating the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, who do not see the land as property, but as a living being.
“The Family Farming Law is a fundamental baseline for demanding the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.”
Today, the Family Farming Law is considered a milestone because it formally recognises the sector’s importance to the country. Its significance is undeniable, and in the words of Dora:
“This is what will help us to continue moving forward instead of going backwards.”
Learn more about how ILC is improving people-centred land governance in Argentina in a summary of our contributions
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